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These manuscripts have been written as seminar papers during my studies.
These works have emerged from my own research or feature my participation.
© Daidalos Design
1999-2006
On this page, I would like to present you my research topics. You will find many of them condensed in papers and articles available for download. Together with the respective titles of the papers, an abstract in German as well as in English will be given.
Since the articles to read contain many figures, it may come to some delays in the case of slow connections while loading a page. Please have patience.
Including references to articles that got revised and published.
Zusammenfassung: Hausarbeit zu Berthold Rieses Hauptseminar "Städte Altamerikas" im Wintersemester 2002/03.
Um Cobá in seiner Umgebung zu beschreiben, erfolgt zuerst eine Einführung in die physischen Charakteristika der Halbinsel
Yucatán. Im Hauptteil wird auf die Subzonen des urbanen Raumes von Cobá und die wichtigsten architektonischen Merkmale
im Zentrum eingegangen. Dem schließt sich eine Betrachtung des Straßennetzes an. Anschließend wird auf die Geschichte der
Stadt eingegangen, wie sie anhand der Archäologie und der Epigraphik rekonsturiert werden kann. In der Schlußbetrachtung
werden eine Reihe von Fragen formuliert, welche wichtige charakterisierende Aspekte für den urbanen Raum von Cobá
berücksichtigen.
Abstract: Cobá, Quintana Roo, México. Homework to Berthold Rieses main seminar in the winter semester 2002/03
"Cities of pre-columbian America". To describe Cobá in its environment, at first an introduction into the physical
characteristica of the Yucatán peninsula will be given. In the main part, the subzones of the urban area of Cobá and the
most important architectural features of the core zone will be discussed. A viewing at the road system follows.
Afterwards, it is dealt with the history of the city, as it can be reconstructed by archaeology and epigraphy. In the
concluding section, a series of questions will be asked which consider important characterizing aspects for the urban
area of Cobá.
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An excerpt of this manuscript has been published as "A Preliminary Ruling Sequence of Cobá, Quintana Roo" in Wayeb Notes, No. 14, 2004.
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Zusammenfassung: Hausarbeit zu Frauke Sachses Hauptseminar "Lektüre von K'ichee'-Texten" im Wintersemester
2000/01. Neben einer Übersetzung der im Titel angegebenen Passage, begründet durch ein analytisches Wörterverzeichnis,
untersucht der Kommentar inhaltliche und grammatikalische Besonderheiten des Textes und versucht eine Übersetzung der
auftretenden Eigennamen zu geben. Für die inhaltliche Bearbeitung wurden exemplarisch eine Erzählanalyse und eine
Untersuchung der Couplet-Strukturen durchgeführt. Mit einer Interpretation der Passage im Hinblick auf Nagualismus
schließt die Arbeit.
Abstract: The Poopol Wuuj: "The mosquito as a scout and the way to Xibalba": Translation and Commentary.
Homework to Frauke Sachses main seminar in the winter semester 2000/01 "Reading K'ichee' texts". In addition to a
translation of the passage stated in the title, explained by an analytical dictionary, the commentary examines
content-related and grammatical features of the text, and tries to give a translation of the occurring proper names.
For the content-related treatment, a narrative analysis and an investigation of the couplet structures were carried out.
With an interpretation of the passage regarding to nagualism the work closes.
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Zusammenfassung: Schriftliche Ausarbeitung eines Referatthemas von Nikolai Grubes Sprachkurs "Yukatekisch I"
im Wintersemester 2000/01. Der Text gibt eine Übersicht über die yukatekische Nomenklatur von Krankheiten, deren
Entstehung durch die mal vientos, wer die medizinischen Spezialisten sind, und welche vielfältigen Methoden diese zur
Heilung entwickelt haben.
Abstract: The indigenous medical system: Diseases and healing. Written development of the topic of a
lecture in Nikolai Grubes language course "Yucatec I" in the winter semester 2000/2001. The text provides a survey of
the yucatecan nomenclature of diseases, their origin through the mal vientos, who the medical experts are and which
diversified methods they developed for curing.
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Zusammenfassung: Schriftliche Ausarbeitung eines Referatthemas von Nikolai Grubes Proseminar "Schriftsysteme
der Neuen Welt" im Sommersemester 1999. Der Text gibt eine Übersicht über die Entwicklung und Funktionsweise der
Mayaschrift und berücksichtigt dabei auch das Kalendersystem und die Zahlen. Weitere Abschnitte behandeln die
schriftlichen Quellen und die Geschichte der Entzifferung.
Abstract: The writing system of the Maya. Written development of the the topic of a lecture in Nikolai
Grubes basic seminar "Writing systems of the New World" in the summer semester 1999. The text provides a survey of the
development and functioning of the maya script and also considers the calendaric system and the numbers. Other features
are the treatment of the written sources and the history of decipherment.
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The Maya site of Tortuguero has kept my attraction for a considerable period of time. Although literally vanished from earth's surface, the site has inherited a small, but fine corpus of inscriptions. The epigraphy of Tortuguero was topic of my master thesis and a subsequent publication. I also followed up on certain texts and parts of inscriptions.
Tortuguero, Tabasco, Mexiko: Geschichte einer klassischen Maya-Stadt, dargestellt an ihren Inschriften / Tortuguero, Tabasco, Mexico: History of a Classic Maya Site as known from its Inscriptions. This has been the title of my master thesis (Tutor: Prof. Dr. Berthold Riese) finished in 2004. Under this title, the elite history of the site and its socialpolitical relations with the Western Maya Lowlands during the Late Classic was investigated as recorded in its inscriptions. An epigraphic analysis and a re-documentation of all monuments in a catalog accompanies the work. The original thesis can be downloaded for € 39,90 at Hausarbeiten.de (ISBN: 3-638476-53-7).
A shortened version of the thesis has been translated into English and has been published as Tortuguero, Tabasco, Mexico: Its History and Inscriptions as Acta Mesoamericana Volume 17 by Verlag Anton Saurwein. It can be ordered for € 56,00 at the Online Saurwein Store (ISBN: 3-931419-13-4).
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In summer 2009, fellow epigraphers and Maya scholars came together for a perpetuing discussion group that focused on the so-called "2012 passage" of Monument 6. The advances not only made a new drawing possible, but - most importantly - allowed a new reading and interpretation of the passage. The resulting article was co-authored with Barbara MacLeod and published as "What Could Happen in 2012: A Re-Analysis of the 13-Bak'tun Prophecy on Tortuguero Monument 6" in Wayeb Notes, No. 34, 2010.
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I was a member of the 2010 field season of the Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito conducted by Vanderbilt University, Nashville under the directorship of Markus Eberl. The ongoing project that started in 2009 aims at the survey and excavation of residential groups to investigate settlement patterns of the time of the Late Classic and how they got influenced by the political collapse in the Petexbatun. Markus Eberl, Claudia Vela González and I presented a paper on the XXIV Simposio de investigaciones arqueológicas en Guatemala about Investigaciones recientes del Proyecto Arqueológio Tamarindito: temporada 2010 on July 21, 2010, published in the proceedings of the conference.
With permission of the project, I have presented the results of the 2010 field season at the 1st Cracow Maya Conference held on February 25, 2011. The presentation further focused on the question of the borders of Maya cities. The 2010 season partly excavated a walled group that clearly had a defensive function. It is also of particular interest to view this group in the context of Tamarindito's twin capital Arroyo de Piedra and the balcanisation process in the Late Classic Petexbatun. Recent insights into the epigraphy of Tamarindito were also presented. The lecture will be published in the proceedings of the conference.
Besides the arqueological work of the project, I have started to make a record of all monuments and inscriptions that have remained in situ. This compilation, together with notes of monuments in museums and collections was published as A Preliminary Report on the corpus of Tamarindito, Guatemala in mexicon XXXIII(3).
A catalogue of greater scale that comprises all known monuments and inscriptions is also in preparation. As far as possible, all monuments will be presented in photos and line drawings. An epigraphic analysis will accompany the catalogue. It will be published as part of the mexicon Occasional Publication series of Verlag Anton Saurwein.
This is the working title of my PhD thesis. The recent advances in Maya epigraphy were able to clarify the
orthographic workings of Maya script (e.g. distinction between /j/ and /h/, underspellings of consonants, etc.) as a tool
for the reconstruction of the language encoded by the script. The current project will focus on these premises and
will also thoroughly investigate the overspellings at morpheme boundaries to better reconstruct the phonemics of affixes.
A diachronic and spatial perspective will be applied to observe the development of the Classic language and the influence
of vernacular languages.
The thesis will be supervised by Professor Peter Mathews, La Trobe University, and is funded
via APA, IPRS and FHUSS scholarships.
You may download the exposé of the PhD thesis with additional information on the topic, the implied methodology and the questions the thesis is aiming at.
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As a "side effect" of my PhD investigations, a manuscript evolved on the so-called morphosyllabic signs first proposed by Houston, Robertson and Stuart in 2001. A conceptual and functional critique on morphosyllables was first presented to a wider audience at the 12th German Mesoamericanist Meeting in January 2009. The arguments were subsequently published in Indiana 28.
This is the title of lecture presented at the 14th European Maya Conference in Cracow, Poland in 2009.
The meaning of emblem glyphs is now widely accepted as an indicator or the representation of a name for a specific site or
a political sphere over which a site had domain.
It is well known that specific emblems show unusual patterns of spatial and individual distribution. A mere view as a
territorial reference might not be appropriate to describe the socio-political dimension of emblems.
Thanks to some crucial texts, patterns in the distribution and use of emblems can now be explained much clearer. This
paper will argue that emblem glyphs served as an emic identifier for the elite groups governing polities. A number of
showcases from the epigraphic record reveal interesting political statements concerning the application of emblem glyphs
in certain surroundings. These include:
Such examples, once termed as "uncomfortable details" by Norman Hammond, provide us with an important insight into how elite self-conception shapes political embodiment, relations and delineation. The processes behind the genesis, distribution and extinction of emblems do not only tell us something about the people referring to this emblem, but also about the rise and fall of the cities they were ruling.
The full argumentation will be published in a paper in the conference proceedings that will be part of the Acta Mesoamericana series of Verlag Anton Saurwein.
Zusammenfassung: Der vorliegende Artikel behandelt die medizinischen Aspekte des Blutopfers, besonders der
Zungen- und Penisperforation. Es werden einige Vorschläge für die Blutentnahme aus diesen Körperstellen gemacht, die auf
piktorale Wiedergaben und Berichte aus der Kolonialzeit basieren. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob das Blutopfer durch
die Ausschüttung von Endorphinen als Folge der Schmerzempfindung und des Blutverlustes in der Lage war, Halluzinationen
hervorzurufen, wie es von Linda Schele und Mary Miller vorgeschlagen wurde. Der Autor zeigt nach Konsultation mit
Medizinern auf, daß dies nicht möglich war, sondern nur durch rituelle Praktiken, die das Blutopfer begleiteten, z.B.
Fasten, die Einnahme bestimmter Drogen, die im einzelnen kurz charakterisiert werden, oder der rituelle Tanz.
Abstract: Trance generation in the self-mutilating rites of the Maya: Medical basics and effects. The
present article deals with the medical aspects of bloodletting especially from mutilating tongue and penis. Some
proposals for drawing blood from these parts of the body are given, basing on pictorial representations and reports from
the Colonial period. After that the question is investigated, whether the bloodletting was able to produce hallucinations
and visions due to the pouring out of endorphins as a result of the pain and the loose of blood, as proposed by Linda
Schele and Mary Miller. The author shows, after consulting with medicals, that this was not possible, but only by the
ritual practices surrounding the blood sacrifice, e.g. fasting, taking certain drugs, which are also characterized
shortly, or the ritual dance.
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A revised version of this manuscript has been published as "Bloodletting and Vision Quest Among the Classic Maya. A Medical and Iconographic Reevaluation" in Human Mosaic 32(1-2): 5-14, 2003. A sample issue containg the article can be viewed at the Human Mosaic web site.
This recent paper shows that the nine G-Glyphs, long thought to be equivalent to the "Lords of the Night" from the Aztec Codex Borbonicus, are in fact different manifestations of the Maize God in the developmental stages that can be encountered at the corn plant. Furthermore, thanks to the recent reading for T128 and allographs as /TI'/ by David Stuart, Glyph F can be determined as a spatial reference. Some rare occurences of "duplicated" F-Glyphs, showing two main signs, allow to identify the principal content of this collocation as the hu'nal, the Jester God as a fertility aspect of God K. The usual superfix forms a spatial reference, telling that the Maize God is an envelope for the Jester God, even today believed to be inherent in every maize plant.
An excerpt of this manuscript dealing with the inflectional patterns of Glyph F has been published as "Beobachtungen zur possessiven Morphologie von Glyphe F" in Wayeb Notes, No. 1, 2003.
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The entire article has been published as "Glyphs G and F as Aspects of the Maize God" in Wayeb Notes, No. 22, 2006.
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with Antonio Benavides Castillo
This small article documents a recently re-discovered ballgame ring fragment from the bodega of Edzná. It is extremly imortant, as it is covered with four hieroglpyhs. It is therefore an addition to the small corpus of inscribed ballgame rings in Northwestern Yucatán. The senior author of the article, renowned Mexican archaeologist Antonio Benavides Castillo, describes the archaelogical finding of the ring fragment, while I conduct the epigraphic analysis.
The article has been published in Mexicon XXVII(6): 107-108, 2006.
by Karl-Herbert Mayer
This is the first and complete documentation of the Late Classic Hieroglyphic Stairway 1 at Edzna. All Maya glyphs are
represented in to-scale black-and-white photographs and corresponding line drawings. In addition, three inscribed limestone
panels, Edzna Miscellaneous Sculptures 6, 7, and 9, attributed to this stairway, are described and illustrated.
All line drawings for the documentation of the hieroglpyhic stairway
have been exclusively created by me for this publication.
The book can be ordered for € 26,00 at Verlag Anton Saurwein via the Online Saurwein Store.
